Writtle has a population of around 4,200 and has retained its character with many beautiful walks and places of interest. Writtle holds a number of events on its village green, details of these can be found in our village diary.

PUBLIC CONSULTATION ON ESSEX FUTURE LIBRARY SERVICES STRATEGY

Essex County Council's consultation on a draft five year strategy for future Library sevices in Essex is open from 29 November 2018 until 20 Februay 2019. The Future Library Strategy Consultation document is available with the following linkhttp://libraries.essex.gov.uk/libraries-consultation

Please click the link to view the Essex Libraries Consultation Video which explains the Library Strategy and Consultation.

Travellers Site –junction of Ongar Road and Highwood Road - 31 October 2018

As Chair of Writtle Parish Council I am informing you of the current position regarding the events at this site in the last week.

Last month the owner of this site sought planning permission to build on this Green Belt land. Your Parish Council objected to this and the Chelmsford City Council refused this application.

Early on Saturday morning a fleet of caravans and a digger arrived at the site and during the morning a convoy of lorries arrived delivering building material.

On Monday morning the City Council’s Planning Enforcement team visited the site to assess the work and interview the occupants.

On Tuesday, the City Council obtained an Injunction Order, which was served on the occupants. This prohibits the bringing on of any further caravans, mobile homes or other structures, or carrying out any further development in connection with the preparation of land as a residential caravan site. However this will not address the works that have already been done on the land. An Enforcement notice will be issued but there is a right for appeal to the Secretary of State and based on other appeals this could take many months, into next year, before the site can be restored to its pre-development condition.

I am very frustrated and annoyed that this has occurred. We, as your Parish Council have been totally powerless to stop this unlawful act.

For those of us who were at the site early on Saturday morning it was depressing to see a well organised operation like this occurring in our village and not being able to do anything. I would like to acknowledge all the work done by our two local councillors, John Aldridge and Tim Roper, as we informed all relevant people including the Police. Unfortunately, as in other similar events, the travellers selected a time which gave them two days to establish the site before the City Council offices opened on Monday morning. The door was shut after the horse had bolted!

Local residents warned that this would happen yet nothing was done. After Dale Farm it appears that this will happen again and again and we in Writtle are the latest to suffer from this type of unlawful behaviour. As local council tax payers we would not be allowed to ignore planning regulations so why does this continue?

Writtle is one of the prettiest villages in the county with many Grade I listed houses. It dates back to the Romans who were present in the village shortly after the Roman conquest and two Roman burial urns were found buried in the gardens of the old vicarage.

Writtle was a royal manor and was mentioned in the Domesday Book when its population was about 900 making it bigger than Chelmsford at the time. The manor was situated on the main route between London and East Anglia and part of this route can be seen at Lawford Lane, which is now a bridle path.

King John is one of the most famous people to be associated with Writtle. He built a hunting lodge in the village in 1211, which is now situated within the grounds of Writtle College. It is also believed that Robert the Bruce, who was once the King of Scotland, was born in the village on July 11, 1274.

Today, little remains of Writtles royal connections, but it is only a matter of time before more of the villages past is discovered with Iron Age, Bronze Age and Roman ruins currently being dug up by amateur archaeologists.

In March 1990 the Parish Council asked for volunteers to start a collection of photographs of the village and Writtle Archives was created. Writtle Archives is currently located in the Christian Centre and is open on Wednesday afternoons from 2.00 - 5.00pm. There is a proposal to build an extension at the Parish Office to rehouse the Archives.

Neighbourhood Plan

Writtle is currently undertaking a Neighbourhood Plan. Minutes, agendas and updated information can be on this website.

The Writtle Village Design Statement was developed by a small nucleus of residents who formed a steering group. The group sought views of the community in order to identify the local character of the parish and to make a record of it for the year 2002 and to develop the design and character of future development proposals. You can view a copy here.

Writtle Parish Plan

A public meeting was held on Saturday, 9 September 2006 in the village hall. A committee was elected by those present to start the process of compiling a Parish Plan. You can view a copy here.